The following description is provided to aid in understanding the invention but is not admitted to be prior art to the invention.
Cellular signal transduction is a fundamental mechanism whereby external stimuli that regulate diverse cellular processes are relayed to the interior of cells. One of the key biochemical mechanisms of signal transduction involves the reversible phosphorylation of proteins, which enables regulation of the activity of mature proteins by altering their structure and function. The best characterized protein kinases in eukaryotes phosphorylate proteins on the alcohol moiety of serine, threonine and tyrosine residues. These kinases largely fall into two groups, those specific for phosphorylating serines and threonines, and those specific for phosphorylating tyrosines.
The phosphorylation state of a given substrate is also regulated by a class of proteins responsible for removal of the phosphate group added to a given substrate by a protein kinase. The protein phosphatases can also be classified as being specific for either serine/threonine or tyrosine. The known enzymes can be divided into two groups--receptor and non-receptor type proteins. Most receptor-type protein tyrosine phosphatases (RPTPs) contain two conserved catalytic tyrosine phosphatase domains each of which encompasses a segment of 240 amino acid residues (Saito et al, Cell Growth and Diff. 2:59-65, 1991). The RPTPs can be subclassified further based upon the amino acid sequence diversity of their extracellular domains (Saito, et al, supra; Krueger, et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:7417-7421, 1992). Alignment of primary peptide sequences of both types of known PTPases shows some sequence consensus in catalytic domains and has made it possible to identify cDNAs encoding proteins with tyrosine phosphate activity via the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
Many kinases and phosphatases are involved in regulatory cascades wherein their substrates may include other kinases and phosphatases whose activities are regulated by their phosphorylation state. Ultimately the activity of some downstream effector is modulated by phosphorylation resulting from activation of such a pathway.
Tyrosine phosphatases have been thought to be possible candidate cancer causing proteins. Inappropriate activity through overexpression of RPTP-alpha, for example, has been associated with colon cancer (Pallen, et al, WO 94/01119, published Jan. 20, 1994). A need exists to identify additional proteins whose inappropriate activity may lead to cancer or other disorders so that pharmaceutical compounds for the treatment of those disorders might also be identified.